Hawkins (NASDAQ:HWKN) Reaches New 12-Month High - What's Next?

Shares of Hawkins, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWKN - Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week high on Monday . The company traded as high as $154.71 and last traded at $153.46, with a volume of 150282 shares. The stock had previously closed at $152.47.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on HWKN. CJS Securities started coverage on Hawkins in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued a "market outperform" rating and a $125.00 price objective for the company. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Hawkins from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 5th. Finally, BWS Financial restated a "buy" rating and issued a $160.00 price target on shares of Hawkins in a research report on Thursday, May 15th.

Hawkins Stock Up 0.3%

The firm's 50 day moving average price is $134.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $120.21. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The company has a market cap of $3.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.85.

Hawkins (NASDAQ:HWKN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 14th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $245.32 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $230.69 million. Hawkins had a net margin of 8.66% and a return on equity of 18.93%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Hawkins, Inc. will post 4 EPS for the current year.

Hawkins Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 30th were issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 30th. Hawkins's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.82%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HWKN. Wasatch Advisors LP acquired a new position in shares of Hawkins in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,466,000. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. boosted its stake in Hawkins by 31.5% in the 1st quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 599,015 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $63,448,000 after purchasing an additional 143,425 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Hawkins in the fourth quarter valued at about $13,087,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of Hawkins by 37.6% during the first quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 350,722 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $37,148,000 after buying an additional 95,885 shares during the period. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Hawkins by 157,110.0% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 94,326 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $9,991,000 after buying an additional 94,266 shares in the last quarter. 69.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Hawkins

Hawkins, Inc operates as a specialty chemical and ingredients company in the United States. It operates through three segments: Industrial, Water Treatment, and Health and Nutrition. The Industrial segment offers industrial chemicals, products, and services to agriculture, chemical processing, electronics, energy, food, pharmaceutical, and plating industries.